Hi guys,Ok my little Cleo is very clever. She is fully housetrained to the point where when she wants to go outside to do her business, she even rings on little bells tied to the door - usually around the 5am mark!Anyway, we do have one little problem that I thought we had solved as she grew older, but now it's back and getting worse.When we go out at night and leave her alone, she is purposely weeing on the bed. I know it is not that she really needs to go, but more of a defiance thing, as she only wees on the bed, on my husbands side, and usually in the same spot. I really need help on this as it's getting out of hand now and she is getting too old for this stuff.I am reluctant to punish her after the fact as I don't want to confuse her, so I would appreciate your advice as to how we can stop this happening.Cheers,Lyn

Whilst this problem is no doubt frustrating, it doesn't really come under the label of Separation Anxiety which is much more serious.

I think you have to stop thinking of this as something she is doing on purpose or to be defiant - dogs don't think like that. You're doing the right thing by not punishing her.

First thing is make sure you are washing all the bedding (and try to sponge down the spot where she pees on the mattress with Biological washing powder, not Non-Bio or the smell won't be taken away and she'll keep being attracted to that spot to toilet.

I'd start leaving her in a different area when you need to leave her so she doesn't have access to the bed and the spot where she pees. You may find this solves the problem and you don't need to worry about it any more. My dog is crate trained for when I leave her alone and but, similarly to your pup, she'll pee on any bedding in her crate as she had a few Urinary Tract Infections as a pup and peeing in her crate became a habit. I swapped the bedding for a waterproof mat and she's never toileted in her crate since.

It might also be worth getting her checked over at the vet just to make sure she doesn't have an infection that's causing this too.

Hi fluffball,Thanks for your reply. I think it is separation anxiety though as even if I leave her in the house for 5 minutes to go get the laudry she cries and gets very anxious.The trouble is I work from home and when running errands she always comes with me. So she is not used to being alone. Even when she goes to the garden she runs in the house every few minutes to check I'm still there.Suggestions would be much appreciated.Thanks

Dogs are pack animals, so if you have an only dog you are her only pack. If a dog is left alone regularly from when it is little, it adapts and copes, but if not, it is traumatised when left. Getting another dog will probably solve it.